The Mystery of Mercy Close

Helen Walsh doesn't believe in fear - it's just a thing invented by men to get all the money and good jobs - and yet she's sinking. Her work as a Private Investigator has dried up, her flat has been repossessed and now some old demons have resurfaced. Not least in the form of her charming but dodgy ex-boyfriend Jay Parker, who shows up with a missing persons case. Money is tight and Jay is awash with cash, so Helen is forced to take on the task of finding Wayne Diffney, the 'Wacky One' from boyband Laddz. Things ended messily with Jay. And she's never going back there. Besides she has a new boyfriend now, the very sexy detective Artie Devlin and it's all going well. But the reappearance of Jay is stirring up all kinds of stuff she thought she'd left behind. Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly the only person she feels connected to is Wayne, a man she's never even met.

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Marian Keyes manages to portray characters' problems from the inside looking out very effectively and this story is no exception. I wasn't as impressed by the mystery and investigation part of the story. It got a bit tedious. The romance angle gave me hope that everything would turn out ok but I wonder if anyone else thought Artie might have been just a bit too good to be true?

Another good read from Marian Keyes. You really have to know what to expect from her...it isn't the normal, "upbeat" chic-lit. Her characters have real problems. I always enjoy reading about what is going on with the other Walsh sisters.

I was extremely bored with this book and as I have loved all her previous books was completely surprised by how different this book was from her previous ones. Tried to get into the book twice but could not read it.

madison382
Apr 29, 2013

This is my least favorite Marian Keyes novels, I found this one to be just a little okay

I love the Walsh family too, but have to say I was quite disappointed with this book. I had a hard time getting into it, but kept going hoping it would get better. It got marginally better, but its definitely not one of Marian's best.
Helen is not particularly likeable, but as a minor character in the other books she provided quite the contrast. This book focuses entirely on Helen, and although it mentions the other sisters its really just in passing, no comic relief from the family interactions. Even Mammy Walsh shows very little of her quirky character in this book.

Unfortunately, Marian Keyes has been suffering from acute depression for some years, and this novel, sadly, reflects that. The heroine is uninteresting and thoroughly unlikeable. There is no hope, no laughter and no joy in this book. It is boring. Bad things happen to Helen and others, very probably mirroring the current economic and social situation in Ireland. I completed only a third of this book and then quickly flipped through the rest, but I found no redeeming features to encourage me to read it properly. A disappointing book for Keyes fans.

I love the Walsh sisters and this novel is fantastic - certainly in her top three. Only Marian could have written about depression with such insight and compassion and still been able to make their readers laugh out loud. The story gripped me from start to finish.